When It Snows It Storms
by Snoop Jelly
Summary: Elsa pursues her newfound love interest, her step-sister Anna. Little does she know there's a lot more to the new half of her family than what she can see at first, and events from the past resurface while a much greater problem is brewing.
1. Chapter 1 - The Monsters and the Angel

"Look dad, that one looks like a snowman!"

Ten year old Hans Davis lay sprawled against the cool summer grass looking up at the sky. A football sat on the ground a few feet behind his head, a ball that was just out of reach of the young boy's diving catch. Hans hadn't been this happy for as long as he could remember, just him and his dad spending time together outside on a sunny day.

"Yeah, it does look like a snowman. I don't know how he's keeping so cool on a day like today though." Hans' father wiped a few drops of sweat of his forehead with the back of his wrist. He looked down at his son stretched across the grass. "Are we out here to look at clouds or to perfect our NFL-star throwing arms?" He asked, jokingly.

Hans got up and grabbed the ball. "Yours could use some work, dad, but mine is ready for the NFL! Just watch!" He lobbed the ball at his father, with a wobbly spiral. His father chuckled and grabbed the ball out of the air. "Keep dreaming, Hans," remarked the older man with a smile before launching a perfect spiral back at the boy.

Hans reached out to catch the ball but it fumbled to the ground. "I'm not dreaming, I'm—"

"Yes you are." Dad lost his smile, and the two of them fell silent for a moment.

"W-what? What do you mean?" Hans muttered, confused.

"Wake up, Hans."

"Dad you're scaring me—"

"Wake up. Wake up!"

Hans woke up. He was lying in bed, and his arm was dangling over the side. Someone was shaking his arm, someone from the bottom bunk, and Hans slowly came back to reality.

"Wake up, Hans," the voice from the bottom bunk called to him. "Wake up!"

Hans sat up and stretched, and made a noise that told the voice from the bottom bunk that Hans was up and stretching. "Ugghhhh… What do you want? I was asleep. What time is it?" Hans called back.

Hans looked out a window and saw nothing but darkness, and this worried him.

The voice replied to him. "I want you to go downstairs and get me a drink of water. I'm thirsty."

Hans had now come completely back to reality. He came back to his top bunk in a big room at the Southern Isles Foster Home. He recognized the unnamed voice, and then he put a name to it. Ethan. Ethan was almost four years older than Hans, and was bigger and stronger as well. Ethan was bigger and stronger than most of the other boys, and this granted him respect from their simpler minds. Hans clutched his stuffed snowman tightly, his snowman named Olaf.

"Why can't you get it yourself? I'm not moving, jerk. Goodnight." Hans hoped that would be the end of it, but part of him knew that was just wishful thinking.

Ethan climbed the ladder to Hans' top bunk. "Get it myself? Why would I do that when you have a perfectly fine set of legs to do it for me? I'm going to count to five and if you aren't on your way to the water cooler when I'm done counting, I'm going to rip the fucking head off of your stupid little snowman. Deal?" Hans couldn't see very far in front of him but he could sense Ethan's vicious little eyes focused on him. He pulled his snowman tighter to him and rolled over, trying to ignore the other boy.

Ethan started counting. "Five." Hans lay still.

"Four…three…..two…" Hans hardened the grip on his snowman and clenched his eyelids tightly.

"One. Bad choice Davis." Ethan climbed up onto the bed and rolled Hans over onto his back. He wrestled the little snowman out of the boy's hands and jumped down onto the floor.

"Ha! I got little Hans' snowman!" Exclaimed Ethan. The other boys in the room started waking up at all the commotion and someone turned on the light. There were eleven other boys in the room besides Hans and Ethan. "Teddy bears are for babies, Hans. Are you a baby?" Ethan asked menacingly.

"No!" cried Hans. "I'll get you your water, just give back Olaf!"

"Olaf?! Ha ha, you even named the stupid thing? No, sorry Hans, it's too late. You had your chance to get me water. But, I guess since you aren't a baby you won't mind if I do this."  
Ethan firmly gripped the body of the poor little snowman with his left hand and the head with his right. He pulled hard, and the soft material surrendered to the force. Olaf's little head was ripped clean off and a small explosion of stuffing erupted from the neck. Hans felt tears forming in his eyes and jumped down onto the ground.

"Ha! I told you you were a baby! Look, he's crying at the stupid little teddy bear!"

The whole room erupted in laughter.

Hans ran towards Ethan and threw a fist into his face. The other boy reeled from the pain, and turned his head back towards Hans. The voices surrounding Hans gasped in unison. He gulped.

"You shouldn't have done that Hans."  
The smaller boy started backing up. "I'm s-sorry Ethan, I really didn't mean to. I-I'll go get your water." He started walking towards the door. Suddenly, the other boys jumped off their beds in a pursuit towards Hans. "You're really going to regret doing that you little faggot," Ethan repeated.

Hans was tugged to the ground, and several little hands held him in place. "I'm sorry Ethan, please stop." He whimpered.

Ethan walked up to the restrained boy and hit him hard in the face. In a fit of rage he started letting off blow after blow on the younger boy's head.

A figure appeared in the doorway. A tall figure. One that towered over the twelve other boys. Hans caught a glimpse of the figure before passing out, and in his damaged little head he saw an angel that would save him from the twelve monsters of the Southern Isles.


	2. Chapter 2 - Memory Foam

_Years later._

"61…62….63. This is the one, Elsa!"

Elsa Winters and her mother Marie pulled into the driveway at 63 Arendelle Crescent. Elsa looked out the window eager to see the other half of her new family. She saw a burly auburn-haired man with lengthy sideburns, who she assumed to be Hans, and a beautiful looking young redhead who she assumed to be his daughter Anna.

Elsa's mom had recently got engaged to Hans, and the two of them were now moving into his big suburban house he shared with his daughter. Marie was unemployed in her earlier marriage, and after that relationship ended she found herself quickly running out of money. Hans was on a business trip to their city and the two of them met at a grocery store, of all places. The rest is history. After a few months they got engaged and Hans got Marie hooked up with a well-paying job at his company in Toronto, then she agreed to move in with him.

Elsa stepped out of the car and found Anna standing right next to the open door. She excitedly greeted her new sister and offered to help her with her bags.  
"Uh, sure, that'd be great," Elsa told the other girl, her eyes darting back and forth. Elsa is uncomfortable in social situations with people she has just met. Well, with everyone, but especially with people she has just met. She pushed her blonde bangs out of her face. "Thanks. I'm Elsa, by the way. You're Anna, right?"

Anna giggled a bit while pulling a one of the big bags out of the trunk. "Almost. It's pronounced Ah-na. Nice to meet you finally!"

Elsa blushed. _So much for a good first impression._

Anna brought the bag to the front door, struggling a bit with the weight. She would have skipped there if the bag had been lighter. "Jeez," she said out of breath, "haven't you guys ever heard of rolling luggage?"

Elsa grinned sheepishly and grabbed her second bag out of the trunk. She lugged it behind her while she walked towards the house. She walked past Hans and Marie, talking and smiling and laughing together.

"There she is!" Said Hans with a smile. "It's great to finally meet you Elsa, I'm Hans. I'd shake your hand but it looks like it's a little occupied right now!" He laughed. "Go on in. Anna will show you to your room," he told her, then in a quieter voice he joked "I think it's even bigger than hers, but don't tell her that!" Elsa smirked and walked inside, taking her shoes off on the mat.

"Anna?" She called out.

"Up here." 

Elsa looked upstairs and saw Anna behind the bannister. She gaped at the high ceiling of the foyer. Anna gave her a little wave.

She met Anna at the top of the stairs. "This way," the redhead told her before leading the way. "You get the guest bedroom. Well, it's the guest bedroom now, but it'll be yours soon enough!" Elsa noticed the light freckles on Anna's face now that she had a better look. She was even prettier up close. "Don't worry about the bland colours, we can help you paint it something different later if you'd like!" Anna told her.

Elsa loved it already. "No, don't worry, I think the colour's fine. Besides, I wouldn't know what else to paint it; it already goes so well with the rest of the room. Especially the bed sheets, wow!" And what comfortable looking bed sheets those were.

"Yeah, I guess you're right. Well, go ahead! Give it a test drive," Anna suggested.

"What?"  
Anna laughed. "The bed, silly." 

"Oh." Elsa climbed into the bed and lay down, snuggling into the covers to get comfortable. "It'll be a lot better than my old bed, I can already tell. Is the mattress memory foam?"

Elsa was surprised when Anna got into the bed beside her. "Yup, it feels like it! Aren't you lucky?" She giggled. Anna let out a sigh and nestled her head into the pillow, looking towards Elsa. "I'm tired."

"Me too." Admitted Elsa. "Long drives always make me tired."

Elsa relaxed and looked at the redhead.

_God she's adorable_.

And in that moment Elsa began to fall in love, one freckle at a time.


	3. Chapter 3 - Sleeping Houses

Both halves of the new family sat down at the dinner table. The kitchen clock read '5:30' and the outdoor sky read 'summer', though the reading was getting close to 'autumn'. The table was neatly set, with shiny plates and bowls and glasses arranged on it holding the meal in place. The kitchen sent its appetizing smells in all directions through the halls, the doors, and the windows, and they coaxed a growl out of the stomachs of neighbours and passersby.

The family talked and laughed and talked some more over the meal. Elsa couldn't help but catch Anna's contagious laughter and smiles whenever she looked over at her. After a few moments of silence the sideburned head of the table (and excellent chef) announced that he had an announcement to make.

"Ladies, I just wanted to tell you all that today marks a full year of my sobriety. It was a struggle earlier in that year but now it comes easily, I can turn down drinks and temptation without a second thought. I can't see myself ever going back to the drink. Not even a sip." He beamed with pride at his accomplishment.

Marie reached out to grab Hans' hand, and she looked in his eyes. "I trust you honey. You're the strongest man I know. The bravest, too."

Anna, who had been refilling her glass with water turned around and hugged her father. "I knew you could do it daddy. I love you."

Elsa was a bit concerned, it seemed like everyone knew about Hans' earlier hardship. Everyone except her.

_Ah, what am I worried about? He looks pretty sincere. If he still had a problem, he wouldn't be this charismatic and bubbly, right?_

She offered some encouragement to her new father. "A full year? Wow, you're doing great!"

Soon enough everyone finished their meal, and soon enough the mature adults of the household cleaned up the dishes, and soon enough the new sisters retired to the couch and TV, and so on.

Soon enough the house was asleep.

Then, the moon ran off over the horizon, and the sun woke up to take its place. It smiled down at the city, at the sleeping houses, and after it flipped the light switch in the heavens it woke up those sleeping houses. It woke up Elsa.  
It was Elsa's first day at her new school and this made her nervous. She munched on spoonful after spoonful of cinnamon toast crunch in silence, trying to placate the butterflies who flew around her innards to make her more nervous.  
"Did you see your class timetable yet Elsa? I think you have second period with me. Or maybe it's third."

It was Anna, who got up a little later than Anna, and who filled a bowl of cinnamon toast crunch a little later too. Both of the girls were 16, going on 17, and so they were both in grade 11.

"Yeah, I looked at it a bit. You're going to have to show me where room 245 is though, that's where my history class is. My first class." She grabbed her timetable from the other side of the table and looked at it. "Actually you might have to show me where all these rooms are."

"Don't worry, the classrooms are easy to find." Anna told her, with a bit of a giggle. "The rooms starting with 1 are on the first floor, and the rooms starting with 2 are on the second floor. And besides that, most of the ones on each floor are connected by the same big rectangle hallway, so when you're lost just walk around in circles until you find what you're looking for."

"I still wish they made a map to go with it." Elsa brought another spoonful of cereal to her mouth, but stopped herself to ask a question. "What time should we leave by?" They had to walk to school, their parents took the car to their big skyscraper workplace earlier that morning, and even if they left it, neither of the girls could drive without a licensed adult.

Anna looked at her watch. "About 10 minutes. Lots of time. Are you ready for today? Don't be nervous, all my friends are eager to meet you!"

Elsa smiled and nodded. "I think I'll be alright. At least it's not halfway through a semester or something." It was a few weeks into September, and she would be able to catch up pretty easily in all her classes. She would also be able to make friends better since the groups and cliques of the school would be a little less established. A few of her little butterfly friends calmed themselves down and gave their flapping and agitation a rest.

Just before their 10 minute timeframe had passed, the girls finished up their bowls of daily sugar intake and packed their bags. Then they brushed their teeth, tied their shoes and took off towards the school.


	4. Chapter 4 - The Real Angel

"ENOUGH!"

The twelve boys of the Southern Isles all turned towards the doorway. The source of the yell was Henry, the group homes foster parent. They let go of Hans' limp body. His head hit the ground.

"Who started this?" The boys were quiet. "Ok fine, don't tell me. It looks like Ethan was in charge so I'll assume it was him." Ethan rolled his eyes. Henry spoke up again. "Tomorrow we have a visitor, someone who is interested in adoption, and all of you need to get some sleep so you can be on your best behaviour." There were a few excited gasps. "I'll speak to you in the morning about this business here. Especially you Ethan."

Hans was carried to his bed, and then one by one the boys fell asleep.

The next day was not out of the ordinary. Another visitor looking for adoption, another 'talk' about the bullying and abuse of Hans, another set of meager punishments, etc. Henry didn't really care about Hans. Henry didn't try to find another home for him, Henry didn't separate him from the other boys, Henry didn't encourage them to get along, and so on. Henry only hoped for the problem to disappear.

Henry wasn't a good foster parent, and this hurt Hans.

In the morning, a kind-looking man with a big smile in his 50s or 60s walked in to the foster home, had a chat with Henry, and revealed that he was there to move one of the boys to a more loving family and a more loving home.

"Well, Mr. Jackson, we—" started the unloving foster parent.

"Please, call me Wayne." Interrupted the kind man, as politely as an interruption can be.

And Henry paused before starting again. "Well, Wayne, we've got thirteen boys here for you to choose from. I assume you have all the paperwork complete?"

"Yes."

And Henry invited Wayne to meet the boys and pick his new family member.

And one by one the boys went up to Wayne to tell him about themselves and wow him with their smarts, or their personalities, or their confidence, or their hobbies, or whatever good son qualities they thought they had. All of them except for little Hans, who sat down and held an ice pack to his bruised face. Wayne got to Hans last.  
"Hi there, I'm Wayne." He offered a welcoming smile and his right hand

Hans looked up and switched his ice pack to his left hand, then shook Wayne's hand. "I'm Hans."

"It's nice to meet you." The older man said with a smile. He looked around his shoulder at the other boys and the other older man, and then looked back at Hans. In a quieter voice he asked "Do you like it here, Hans?"

"No."

"Do they treat you well here?"

"No."

"Are you happy?"

"No."

Wayne continued. "Ok, then what would make you happy? Or what used to make you happy? More than anything else?"  
Hans thought for a moment. "I like to fish. Well, I used to, I haven't gone fishing in a while."

"That makes two of us." The older man replied. Hans smiled and then nervously looked down at his ice pack.

Wayne continued. "How would you feel about coming to live with me, up north? The house backs onto a lake with plenty of fish in it."

Hans' face lit up. "Really?"

"Really."

Hans packed his bags, Wayne scribbled a few signatures here and there on official looking pieces of paper, and soon Hans was waving goodbye to the twelve other boys from the southern isles.

The drive was about four hours long and Hans loved every minute of it, though he was eagerly awaiting the moment they would pull into the driveway. He was excited to find out what the house looked like, what the lake looked like, and most importantly what life was like without twelve other 'brothers'.

And as they drove, Hans got further and further away from his earlier life of abuse.

Eventually they arrived at the house. It was a medium sized, made out of wood, and it resembled a cottage. Hans unpacked his bags, moved into his new bedroom, and by the time the weekend was over he had completely settled into his new home, happy as ever.

One day him and his new father were on the dock, enjoying each other's company, talking about life, and reeling in their fish hooks every once in a while to cast them out again. Wayne told Hans about his family.  
"My wife divorced me about fifteen years ago, and I think she moved out west. We had two kids, Helen and Jake, but they both moved out when they were finished high school and never looked back. I haven't heard from them in a long time. They just…shut me out." He stifled a tear.

Hans may not have realized it at the time but he meant a lot more to Wayne than Wayne meant to him. Wayne was incredibly lonely and just wanted someone to spend time with. He was in Toronto for the Sportsman's show, a giant outdoor convention dedicated to Wayne's favorite outdoor pastimes, and he couldn't help but stop at the Southern Isles foster home when he saw it advertised on one of the flyers.

"Can you promise me something Hans?" Wayne asked the younger boy.

"What?"

"Promise that you won't just move away and forget about me while I spend my retirement years up here all alone. Like my other kids did."

"I promise. I could never do that to you, dad!"

The dad tousled his sons hair. "I know son."

"I know."


	5. Chapter 5 - Meeting the Two Blondes

Elsa felt a little lost. Her and Anna had been walking for almost 10 minutes, towards the school, but the neighbourhood was new and confusing and all the streets looked the same. She wondered how she was supposed to find her way to school if Anna was ever sick. The two of them talked a bit but there was plenty of silence between their short little conversations. Elsa worried that she was making Anna feel awkward, but she couldn't think of much to say with so much on her mind to be stressing about.

"So… our parents seem to be really getting along well together, don't you think?"

Elsa was caught a bit off guard at the sudden end of silence. "Yeah, they seem really happy together."  
And then there was more silence, and deep down it was killing Elsa, because she wanted nothing more than to have a normal flowing conversation with her beautiful step sister.

"I mean, they look a lot happier than my dad and my….other mom. Those two didn't get together well at all!" She said with a bit of a laugh. With no response other than an understanding glance from Elsa she continued. "They stayed together for a while though. I'm pretty sure the only thing that kept them together for as long as they were was the money. But even that wasn't enough after a while."

"My parents were pretty happy together," was Elsa's response.

_Why would you say that? Why why why?_

"So, what, they just stopped loving each other at some point, or what?"

Elsa looked down at her feet. "Yeah, I guess you could say that."

Anna saw how uncomfortable she made Elsa and added "I'm sorry, that was a bit too personal. I'm not thinking straight this morning."

"Don't worry about it. I'm not thinking straight either."

The two of them reached the front of the school and walked down the front path. They crossed the chaotic parking lot and dodged the frenzied cars and their drivers who were trying to get their kids to school on time and themselves to work on time.

"Where is your locker?" Anna asked her while they stepped into the school. "Mine's on the second floor near the back. It's number 406 or 407 or something like that."

Elsa retrieved her folded up timetable from her back pocket. She had written her locker number on the back. "'Locker #456,'" she read. "You'll have to show me where that is."

"It should be just down the hall from mine."  
And the two of them walked up the stairs to Anna's locker, and then found Elsa's locker down the hall.

"See that door further down the hallway just next to the stairwell? That's your history class." Anna pointed to the door, and Elsa took a mental note of it.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't my best friend and her new step sister!"

The two sisters turned to find a tall curly-blonde-haired boy with a goofy smirk.  
Anna's smile grew wider and she warmly greeted her friend. "There you are Kristoph! This is Elsa, she just moved in yesterday. Elsa, this is Kristoph."

"It's pretty cool to finally meet you Elsa, Anna's been talking about you for weeks!"

_Has she really? _

Kristoph continued. "I'm in your first period history class, so I can help you get caught up if you want. We haven't really done much so far."

"That's good to hear! History's one of my favourite subjects so I promise I won't be much of a burden on you." Elsa was surprised at how easily she continued the conversation, how normally.

The bell rang, and Anna said goodbye to Elsa and Kristoph, and they said goodbye to her. Then they walked to the history class, and Elsa sat in an empty seat behind her new friend.

Elsa listened to her animated new teacher talk about the ancient world, about early civilizations, about life 5000 years ago, about farmers and builders and proto-socialism and meso…mesopot….mesopo-something-or-other and some things she just couldn't keep up with but engrossed her all the same.

When the bell rang, her and Kristoph packed up and met Anna at her locker. They then walked down to the cafeteria to buy a warm lunch. Elsa was surprised at how healthy the options were, the fries were baked, the pizza was multigrain and salad sides were heavily encouraged. There were no deep-fried items to be seen. She bought a chicken burger and salad.

When the three of them all had their trays of food they found a table to sit down at. Rapunzel, a friend of Anna's and Kristoph's, joined them. She was a bubbly blonde-haired sweetheart who was eager to meet Elsa.

Elsa sat in silence for a while eating her lunch and was listening to, but not really understanding, the three other friends' conversation about a TV show episode that they all watched last week. They talked about the little midget guy on trial, the big army of slaves and dragons, the weird lady with the annoying son, and it kind of made Elsa interested in watching.

"Do you watch Game of Thrones Elsa?" Rapunzel asked her. It pulled her out of her little trance.

"Uh…no, I think I've heard of it though, should I be watching it?"

Their response was a collective "Yes."

And then they invited her to watch it next Sunday, and they said they would explain it to her while watching so she wouldn't be lost. Anna even offered to re-watch the whole series with Elsa if she wanted to.

For the first time in a while, Elsa felt included, and it made her truly happy. Of course it helped that she was being included by a certain someone she was developing strong feelings for.


	6. Chapter 6 - Fair is Foul, Foul is Fair

Elsa finished her lunch and stepped back out of the bench to throw her garbage away and put her tray back. Then she felt herself come in contact with something that felt alarmingly like another person, and heard some things hit the ground, and felt cool liquid splash on her legs. She looked around and saw a girl with a wide open mouth and snide little eyes looking back. Her tray was empty and a lunch was on the floor.

The girl fumed. "Are you serious? Watch where you going next time you dolt."

"I'm so sorry, I—" Elsa started.

"I don't care. Just give me money to buy another meal."

"Yeah, of course, let me just get my wallet out. It should be right in here….I just had it out…..yup, here it is, how—"

"Stop."

Elsa stopped. "Stop what?" The other girl rolled her eyes.

"Talking, acting all buddy-buddy, whatever. Just stop. All I want is the money."

_Wow. This girl was in a surprisingly bad mood._

Anna came to the side of her sister. "She's just trying to be nice, Aurora, stop being such a bitch."

"Fuck off Anna." Aurora retorted.

"I was just going to ask you how much money it was."

"How much do you think?"

"…I don't know…eight bucks or something?"

"Ok."

Elsa handed over a five-dollar bill, a toonie and a loonie.

"Here you go. Have a good rest of the day." Elsa struggled to stay civil.

"Excuse me?"

"Cheer up."

"You can't just—"

"Hey, hey, hey, ladies, what's going on here?" An arrogant looking dude with a smug face appeared behind Aurora. Elsa assumed it was her boyfriend.

"Nothing, just little Miss Princess here can't watch where she's going."

"..What?" He was confused and probably expecting a more in-depth answer.

"Nothing. Let's go."

And they left in silence, with Elsa's money.

"She's such an egotistical little bitch." Anna said, finally. Kristoph and Rapunzel nodded in agreement.

Elsa was curious. "Is she always like that?"

"Pretty much."

Then the four of them all went to their lockers and got ready to go to their third period classes. Anna and Elsa had English together.

The English teacher assigned a seat to everyone in the class because they were too talkative and not as attentive as they should have been the week before. Elsa was assigned to the desk in of Anna. Then she was handed a book of a play by Shakespeare called Macbeth, and she was told to turn to page 23, and she was told to follow along while the teacher read the lines of all the characters. She had a hard time following along, because the old Shakespearean English didn't make any sense to her. Then the teacher put the Macbeth movie on the projector to show the class what the part they just read looked like when acted out. It didn't help Elsa understand much more but she found herself getting lost in the suspense and leaning in more towards the screen.

Suddenly she felt a hand on hers, and the other hand opened up her fingers to put something into it before closing them again. Elsa turned around.

She saw Anna, who sat back in her seat and smiled at her. Elsa opened up the piece of paper.

'_You're cute when you watch movies. :^) ' _It read.

Elsa's heart skipped a beat.

_Is Anna flirting with me? She can't be, she's probably just joking around. But still, that's the first time she's ever said something like that to me. _

Elsa looked at her sister, who was watching the movie now. Anna, noticing the blonde looking back at her, grinned and bit her lip.

_You're nuts. She is just being herself. Stop trying to pick up 'hints', there are none. _

_At least not yet. _

Then the teacher stopped the movie, talked for a little while about it, and dismissed the class when the bell rang. Elsa went to her final class of the day but had trouble paying attention. Every once in a while she would unfold the little note her sister gave her and re-read it. She couldn't help herself. Finally, the last bell of the day rang, and Elsa went to meet her sister. She wanted to ask about the note, or at least just bring it up.

"Hey." The blonde said to the redhead.

"Hey!" The redhead said back.

_Just be cool and bring it up. Be cool. Laugh or something too._

"So..I'm a cute movie-watcher, huh?" Elsa giggled.

"Yep!" Anna laughed too. "I dunno, I was just bored. Shakespeare isn't my guy."

_I_ _knew it. She was just joking around. _

And they left. And Elsa was even more lost while walking back. _Is this the same way we came? It can't be!_

And then she thought about something she had said earlier, and although she technically didn't lie she decided she trusted her new sister enough to give her the whole story.

"Anna?"

"Yeah?"

Elsa took a deep breath.

"My parents didn't…well, just stop loving each other. There was more to it."

"No, it's fine Elsa, I didn't mean to ask about that. Don't worry about it."

"Well…I still think you should know, since you're my sister now." And while the two of them walked through the neighbourhood together Elsa told her sister exactly what happened to her other parent.


	7. Chapter 7 - Tiny Little Acts of Love

_Several months earlier._

A black Volkswagen Jetta sped down highway 403 towards Hamilton. At the wheel sat Arthur Winters, a modest actuary by trade who had been giving a presentation to a Toronto-based company about risks and probabilities and investments and how to best manage capital. Now that that had gone more or less _okay_ he was fixated on getting home to Elsa, Marie, and the home cooked meal that would (hopefully) be waiting for him. But the weather didn't want him to. The clouds and the wind and the pressure systems were more interested in showering southern Ontario with _love_ in the form of beautiful and individually unique frozen water crystals. A lot of them.

And so Arthur drove through the snowy fields that kept getting snowier, and he kept destroying the beautiful acts of love that came too close to his big motor vehicle. And so did all the other commuters on the highway. But Mother Nature didn't care, she just made bigger and better snowflakes to keep sprinkling in their path.

And she didn't stop sending them.

And together, the little snowflakes made it hard for the commuters to see around them, and they made the big driving machines slow down. But the people still didn't appreciate the tiny works of art.

Far up ahead, a little car accidentally moved past an unseen line on the road, and then it bumped into another little car. Then a slightly bigger car slammed into them, and a much bigger car punched deep inside that slightly bigger car's metal frame. And then like dominos the highway travelers came to a crashing stop, one by one by one.

Further back, Arthur kept moving along in his Jetta, and soon enough he came up to the mess of cars. And he stopped, since the big mess of cars wasn't moving.

He took his cell phone out of his pocket and called his house. His wife answered.

"Hello?"

"Hi. It's me. There's a pretty big pileup on the 403 so I don't think I'll be home for dinner."

"Ok. Elsa and I are going to eat, then, it's starting to get dark. Be safe out there."

"I will. And I'll see you two when I get home. Love you."

"Love you too." *click*

The big mess of cars still hadn't moved, and the sky was getting darker and darker, so Arthur put his seat back, turned the radio down a bit, and put his feet up to rest.

And on the road, the snowflakes kept piling up higher and higher, and kept blanketing the exhaust pipe with their love.

And while Arthur was resting in his warm car, he slowly drifted off into a deep sleep.

But he didn't wake up.


	8. Chapter 8 - The Fantastic Fox

Elsa and Anna were now on the living room couch where Elsa finished her story. The words "didn't wake up" were still fresh on her tongue. Elsa buried her face in her hands and softly cried for a while. She hadn't thought she could've possibly been this devastated again, she thought she more or less got over it a while back.

Anna was speechless, from the way Elsa was acting earlier she would have never guessed that something like this had happened.

Elsa sat up, her eyes were red and watery.

"I'm sorry," she said in a soft voice.

Anna reached out and held her sisters hand. "Don't be."

"Sometimes I wish I would've taken the phone to say goodbye to him one last time before my mom hung up," Elsa confessed in a brittle voice. "Just to tell him I loved him."

"Don't think about that, Elsa. You had no idea." Anna hugged her sister and let her cry into her shoulder. They sat for a while longer, in silence. They had nothing more to say. Elsa was embarrassed, and Anna hadn't ever had to comfort someone who had lost a loved one.

Anna hated seeing her sister like this. She didn't want her to spend the rest of her afternoon melancholically trying to fuse with the couch.

"Elsa?"

Elsa turned to face Anna. "Yeah?"

"Do you want to watch a movie?"

Elsa was hesitant at first. "Which one?"

"One of my favorites. I watch it whenever I'm in a bad mood, it always takes my mind off things. Even if it's just for a little while."

Elsa agreed. She didn't want to mope around all afternoon either. So Anna put Fantastic Mr. Fox into the Blu-ray player, and the two of them were absorbed into Mr. Fox's world until dinnertime.

Dinner was excellent as always, wholesome and filling. And Elsa was a little more upbeat than she was earlier that day.

"So, Elsa, how was day one at the new school? Are the teachers good enough for you?" Hans asked her in jest.

"They seem pretty good so far," came her reply, "but we'll have to see. Mr. Taylor reminds me a lot of one of my old oddball science teachers in Hamilton. He was always loud, yelling at someone or something, and had a bunch of animal fetuses in jars in the back room. I think he got fired for hitting a kid or something." She laughed. "But then again I can't imagine another teacher getting close to his level of weirdness."

Hans chuckled. "You'd be surprised at all the wackjob teachers out there." He took another bite and started again. "Anna's friends were good to you today right?"

"Of course they were!"

"Nobody gave you any trouble?"

"Well…..that one Aurora girl."

"Oh, her." His smile dropped. "We know all about her." He shot a quick glance at Anna, then back. "Just try to stay on her good side, if you even can."

"I'll try."

Dinner ended on a better note after the conversation subject was changed. The two girls left to finish their homework. Well, tried to.

Elsa sat at her bedroom desk scribbling away. There was a knock at the door.

"Hello?"

"Hey." It was Anna. "Homework sucks. Let's go get some ice cream or something."

Elsa looked at her work then back at Anna. "Where?"

"Baskin Robbins. It's a pretty short walk from here. I'll even pay for you."

Elsa couldn't resist her sisters pleading eyes. Her gorgeous, pleading eyes.

"Sure, I'll come. Sounds a lot more fun than this stuff right here," she said as she closed her binder.

They put their shoes on and Anna called out to her dad on the other side of the house.

"Yes?" The disembodied voice yelled back.

"Elsa and I are going out to get ice cream. We'll be back later."

"Ok. Bye."

Then the door shut and the girls were gone.

Hans was watching the news on the living room TV. His wife was out getting groceries.

The phone rang, and Hans picked it up out of the cradle. "Hello?"

"Hi. Is this Hans Jackson?" The voice on the other end was soft and almost remorseful.

"Yes. Who's this?"

There was a bit of a pause while the voice on the other end collected its next few words.

"This is Emily from the North Bay Regional Health center…I'm calling to inform you that your father has passed away."

Hans was quiet, and he didn't say anything back for a little while. But Emily stayed on the line.

"Hans? Are you there?"

"Yes." He finally said.

"I'm sorry." Emily spoke in a comforting tone.

"Did he say anything about me, before he….." he trailed off.

"Yes."

"What?"

"He said that he wished you had kept your promise."


End file.
